90% of Sales Training Fails—but You Can Fix That—An Interview with John Doerr

RainToday.com's Podcast: Marketing & Selling Professional Services

Ninety percent of sales training fails, according to ES Research. When you consider how much a company spends per person on sales training, a company can waste as much as $500,000 each year on failed sales training.

In addition, companies know sales training is failing them, yet they continue to do it, says John Doerr, Co-President of RAIN Group and co-author of the new report Why Sales Training Fails.

"I had a conversation with a woman … and we were talking about sales training," he says. "I said, 'Have you done any sales training in the past?' And she said, 'Yea, we have, and we're not sure if we want to do it again. It never seems to work.' And I said, 'Well, why are you doing it again?' And she said, 'Well, we have to do something. Sales aren't going the way they want.'"

That's the wrong way to approach it, Doerr says. Sales training doesn't have to be wasted money. Sales training—when done well—can be extremely effective. And it starts with company deciding what their training needs and objectives are.

Listen as Doerr discusses what causes sales training to fail and what companies can do to make sure it succeeds.